Advice: Caleb B. Smith

Caleb B. Smith

Secretary of the Interior
Caleb B. Smith was the only cabinet
member who joined Seward in explicitly
calling for a withdrawal from Sumter.
Smith asserted that Sumter could not be successfully defended and
that its evacuation was "a necessity."

Smith, however, rejected General
Scott's recommendation about
Fort Pickens. Instead, he called for
"the most vigorous measures for the defense" of Pickens and other
forts. He explained that the country could accept the abandonment of
Sumter if they understood that it was done "from necessity," and if
at the same time Pickens and other forts in the government's
possession "shall be defended, and the power of the government
vindicated."